Hailee was squatting by the cultivated border of one of the many white-painted terrace walls, carefully coaxing bougainvillea strands around a wire support that she had just constructed, secure in the knowledge that she could hear Ariana's happy voice drifting up to her from where she played on the beach with Assunta.          An electric whirring sound behind her warned Hailee of Guido's approach. She didn't turn, didn’t even reveal she was aware of his unpleasant presence. But her inner sigh was heavy.          In the six days since she had arrived here, Hailee had carefully avoided any contact at all with her father-in-law. He came to see Ariana each lunchtime, guiding his chair into the suite and staying long enough to share lunch with her baby.          But Hail

          Did he mean by that, that she owed him the use of her body in return for his retrieving her stolen child? Hailee looked at him in horror. “But you hate and despise me! You even hated yourself for what happened the last time we shared a bed!” “This is quite true.”           His hard face tightened. “But if I had wanted the whole world to know that Alessandro Baroni was foolish enough to marry a cheating woman,” he threw at Hailee, “I would’ve divorced her three years ago and left her by herself with her illegitimate child!”           Hailee blanched at the intended insult. He took the reaction as his due. “As it is,” he continued, “to the world and this household, we are still very much man and wife. And man and wife share a bed and have a certain amount of marital privacy which doesn’t include

          Hailee kept singing and humming until Ariana closed her eyes and calmed down. There was silence behind her, filled with the battle that Alessandro was having with himself at her cold dismissal. Hailee could hear him breathing, but his anger or frustration wasn’t her problem. She was interested in her little daughter. Then, without saying another word to her, he just went away.          When eventually Ariana drifted back into sleep, Hailee didn’t replace her in her crib but sat down in the chair beside Assunta's rumpled bed and allowed the little girl to spread out on her lap with her warm cheek cushioned on Hailee's breast.          She stayed like that for ages. How long she didn't know. It didn't matter. When Alessandro eventually came back, she barely acknowledged him. He went to stand by the window. A habit of his when struggli

          What did he just say to her? What kind of a game was he playing now?          The impact that shocking announcement had on Hailee resulted in a complete collapse of everything inside her just for a moment, but it showed in the way her body gave an awkward jerk, in the way her breath was sucked sharply into her lungs.“Hear me out before you say anything,” Alessandro added quickly, obviously reading her reaction as a negative one. “I’ve spent this last week trying to find some solution to this situation we’ve created between us. There isn't one,” he announced heavily. “At least, not one where we both keep what bit of our pride that is left, anyway.”          He turned his head to look at her, while Hailee kept her glazed eyes fixed on a point somewhere between Ariana and the table.&l

          What followed was what she supposed could be called a period of adjustment, where they both tried hard to make this new beginning work for them. They were quite successful at it too, aided by the fact that Guido left the house only a few days after Alessandro had returned. He had been booked into an exclusive clinic in Switzerland, where he was to undergo some valve replacement surgery.“Is it dangerous?” she'd asked Alessandro when he'd told her about the operation.          He'd grimaced.“It may help to ease his next few months,” was all he'd said, forcing Hailee to acknowledge just how very ill Guido was.“Are you going to stay with him?”“No.”          Alessandro had smiled at the very idea.“His pride won’t allow me such libe